Tag: poetry

Gibran Khalil Gibran is the third-bestselling poet in the world after Shakespeare and Laozi, and a bilingual Lebanese American who wrote poems in English to boot, and a major influence on American countercultural icons in the 1960s, but I hadn’t heard of him until recently.

I’m not actually big on English language poetry in general (I’m actually unsure if these poems were originally written in English or in Arabic, but English is a language that’s difficult for me to connect emotionally to), because I often feel like I can’t “get” it. But beautiful language is a pretty universally loved thing, right, and this was gorgeous. And not just the words––this particular collection also features the calligraphy of Lassaad Metoui, which is incredibly appealing.

The poems are tender and sad, delicate and affecting. The language is simple, but constructed to deliver a real punch of emotion. I enjoyed the way he writes about love, enjoyed his sometimes contemplative, sometimes moody tone. I think an added positive for me was the fact that the volume itself was so short, because as I have been constantly stressing since the start of my last semester at college, I am in a constant state of stress, and I have zero time to dedicate to anything outside of school and clubs and politics. Not good for my blood pressure, but good to increase my appreciation for short, concise volumes.

Definitely worth a read, because even if you don’t like it (which I highly doubt), it’s not long enough to do any permanent offense to your sensibilities or whatever.